11 August 2006

He is the humble Palestinian cartoonistwho rose out of the despair of war,beyond expulsion from Palestine,and above the poverty and petty politicsof the refugee camps in Lebanon,

to become a mythical giant of a figurewho embodied the consciousnessof the struggles of poor and oppressed people everywhere,and the Palestinian nation in particular.

He is from the "Village of the Tree قرية الشجرة " in Palestine,which is named so because Jesus (may Peace be upon him)rested under the shade of a tree that stood on its holy soil.

It is clear from our vantage pointhow such roots can give rise to a human being like Naji Al-Ali.

Along with hundreds of villages,his village was destroyed in 1948and its inhabitants expelled.

Naji's family fled north and after having crossed overinto Lebanese territory, they were first welcomed inand given food and shelter by the inhabitantsof Bint Jbeil and her surrounding sister villages.

Naji rose from the worst conditions of poverty and deprivationin the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon,to world prominence as an artist and human rights advocate.

His drawings appeared in many daily newspapers around the worldduring his life and after his death.

These simple yet deeply breathtaking drawingshave become the voice of millions of Arabswho live under fear and despotism,especially Palestinians.

His drawings are blunt, honest, unequivocal works,yet they are emotional beauties that divulge the word of truthabout oppression and the human spirit.

His most famous character is Handala,a small refugee child who stands witnessin the foreground of his cartoons,looking into the vignette of each drawing,with his back to the viewer.

In 1979 Naji Al-Ali was electedpresident of the Guild of Arab Cartoonists.He published three collections of his cartoons during his lifetime,and was set to publish a fourth when he was assassinated in 1987on a London street, as he walked to a newspaper office.

After his death, in 1988,Naji Al-Ali was described in Parisby the International Union of Newspaper Publishersas one of the greatest and influential cartoonistof the past two hundred years.

He was posthumously awarded the"Golden Pen of Freedom" in Italy,having been the first Arab journalist to receive this award.

Naji Al-Ali is a martyr of the pen.He is a martyr of the poor and dispossessed.

He is a martyr of truth and courage.He is a martyr of all the stolen olive trees,from whose soul he extrudes the ink of his pen.

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About Me

:: Ibn Bint Jbeil is Arabic for.... (Click for the whole story) :: i was (only OFFICIALLY) born in the village of Bint Jbeil in the south of Lebanon :: i am thankful that Allah provides me with daily sustenance, mercy, inspiration and learning :: i have 3 children, whose innocence is my compass :: i teach and make art, and i make other things, for instance things out of words :: life is wraught with a bunch of abstract notions that i am trying to comprehend :: i also make trouble, 99.99% of the time inadvertantly ::